Hardik Pandya to miss Ranji Trophy to focus on white-ball cricket

Hardik Pandya will not take part in the upcoming Ranji Trophy tournament and will instead focus on limited-overs cricket to make a comeback into the Indian cricket team.

Earlier, the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly had stated that Pandya will be playing in the Ranji Trophy. Ganguly had also added that he expected Pandya to bowl some overs in the tournament as well.

“Hardik was injured and a break was given to him to completely recover so that he can continue to serve Indian cricket for a long period of time. I believe I will see him play some Ranji Trophy to start with. I expect him to bowl a lot more overs and his body will get stronger,” Ganguly had said as quoted by The Hindu.

Kedar Devdhar to lead Baroda in the Ranji Trophy

So, with Pandya pulling out of the tournament, Kedar Devdhar will lead the Baroda side in the Ranji Trophy tournament. Meanwhile, Pandya has been roped in by the Ahmedabad franchise and will lead the side in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The 28-year-old Pandya will draw a salary of INR 15 Crores. The Ranji Trophy tournament will be held in two phases. The first phase of the competition will kickstart on 10th February 2022 and will go on till 15th March.

The Ranji Trophy will not be played during the IPL. The tournament will once again resume on 30th May 2022 and will conclude on 26th June.  Meanwhile, the hugely awaited IPL mega auctions will be held on 12th and 13th February in the city of Bangalore. IPL 2022 will be played by 10 teams, with Ahmedabad and Lucknow being the two new franchises.

Here is the complete Baroda squad for the Ranji Trophy tournament

Kedar Devdhar (C), Vishnu Solanki, Pratyush Kumar, Shivalik Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Abhimanyusingh Rajput, Dhruv Patel, Mitesh Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Babasafikhan Pathan (WK), Atit Sheth, Bhargav Bhatt, Parth Kohli, Shashwat Rawat, Soyeb Sopariya, Kartik Kakade, Gurjindersingh Mann, Jyotsnil Singh, Ninad Rathwa, Akshay More.